‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ Season 5: Madeline Brewer Explains Janine’s Motivations at the Red Center
In The Handmaid’s Tale Season 5, June is finally free in Canada, but some of her friends were left behind. Madeline Brewer’s character Janine is still trapped in Gilead. After her attempted escape, she returned to the Red Center, where she helps Aunt Lydia train the new handmaids. Here’s what Brewer has to say about Janine’s motivations this season.
[SPOILER ALERT: Spoilers ahead for The Handmaid’s Tale Season 5 Episode 2.]
Madeline Brewer says Janine is trying to avoid being posted
After Janine was recaptured and brought back to Gilead, she began working at the Red Center with Aunt Lydia, helping to prepare new handmaids for their posting. Janine also takes Esther Keyes under her wing.
“Janine looks at Esther and sees a version of herself,” said Madeline Brewer in a featurette. “And being a mother feels that maternal energy toward Esther to keep her safe here.”
Notably, Janine thinks that the smartest thing to do in her and Esther’s situation is “follow the rules and stay alive.” She refuses to rebel like Esther wants her to, but Brewer understands her reasons.
“I think it’s so easy to look at Janine and think that she’s just following in line and she’s following the rules,” the actor told E! News. “I think it’s very easy to think that she’s doing that. But there’s nothing that Janine does without reason. I think that she’s a survivor and she always has been.” Brewer also admits that there’s a “little bit of manipulation” in Janine working so hard to please the Aunts.
“I think that she sees herself as, ‘If I’m useful to them, maybe they won’t post me,'” Brewer continued. “Her most present anxiety right now, when we see her at the top of this season, is, ‘Will I be posted or not? Are they going to send me back into service or not?’ Because if they send me back into service, I’m going to bow out of life. She doesn’t need to be here anymore.”
Esther feels betrayed by Janine refusing to rebel in ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ Season 5
Although Janine has her reasons for being obedient, Esther despises it. “Esther is expecting Janine to carry forward June’s legacy of resistance,” executive producer Eric Tuchman said in the featurette. “When Esther sees Janine being more complacent and more accepting of her role as a handmaid in this system, she sees that as a betrayal.”
Additionally, Esther thinks that Janine only helped her so that she could see her daughter at the Putnam’s home. This is what leads Esther to poison both of them with chocolates she stole from Warren Putnam.
Brewer did admit to E! News that Janine will “do anything” if there’s a chance she can see her daughter. However, her desire to help Esther still comes from a genuine place. Janine, after all, knows firsthand what happens to people who rebel in Gilead.
Esther’s actions could lead to a change in Janine
Newsweek also mentions that Janine “takes on a slightly new role after a tremendous betrayal” in The Handmaid’s Tale Season 5. That betrayal could be Esther’s decision to poison them both. The outlet writes that Janine’s “undeniable and intrinsic spirit” keeps her going.
“That to me is Janine’s power. It’s the thing that Gilead cannot take away from her,” Brewer told Newsweek. “They cannot extinguish it. It is her spirit, it is her soul.”
Don’t miss new episodes of The Handmaid’s Tale Season 5 Wednesdays on Hulu.
